Yoko breaks silence to reveal Lennon's last words

For 40 years Yoko Ono has kept a silent dignity in the face of global vilification meted out by legions of Beatles fans.

But today, in an emotional interview, she reveals the last words her husband John Lennon uttered moments before he was gunned down on a New York street in 1980 by Mark Chapman.

"I said 'shall we go and have dinner before we go home?' and John said 'No, let's go home because I want to see Sean before he goes to sleep'," Ono, 73, told Kirsty Young on 'Desert Island Discs'.

Young then asked Ono if Lennon had said anything after he was shot, to which she replied in almost a whisper: "No."

Ono, a conceptual artist, admitted that she would never be more than "the wife of an ex-Beatle".

Choosing Edith Piaf's "Je Ne Regrette Rien" as one of her discs, she added: "I regret nothing, too."

Further listening: 'Desert Island Discs', Radio 4 today at 11.15am, repeated on Friday at 9am